In what was surely one of the best performances by a Merrion youth team in year. The Boys U17s comprehensively defeated a much fancied Railway Union team at Park Avenue to win the Leinster U17 Cup. This is the second time in three years that Merrion has won this competition and the team now goes on to compete in the All-Ireland U17 Finals, a trophy the club won in a bowl out two years ago.
In terms of the match itself, Merrion lost the toss and were asked to bowl. From the first ball, which produced a wicket for Tom Squires, Merrion were on top and never once loosened their grip on the game. It was a top performance from all five bowlers, backed up by some excellent ground fielding and catching. In the end it only took 15 overs to bowl Railway out for 61.
Six overs from the quicks, Squires [1/7] and Toby Houchin [0/14], and Railway were only 22/1. Once the spinners came on the wickets began to fall. The key wicket of Robert O’Brien fell to an excellent catch on the boundary by Squires off the bowling of Seb Dijkstra [3/16]. No one else got into double figures. The combination of leg spin [Dijkstra], left arm [Alex Casey 3/16] and right arm [William Cleere 2/7] finger spin applied maximum pressure on the Railway batters. There were no wides and only three extras in total. Perhaps most pleasing of all was the standard of fielding. There were no easy runs given away, all the catches were taken, and there was a sharp run out from a boundary throw. Behind the stumps Ollie Molins was very tidy and helped ensure that pressure was maintained throughout the innings.
When it came Merrion’s turn to bat the openers Molins [15*] and Dijkstra [42*] started carefully and then gradually opened up to reach the target in 11 overs without losing a wicket. Minimum fuss, maximum effectiveness.
Looking at the cold statistics one might imagine that, as the game played out, only a few players from Merrion had the opportunity to contribute. But that is not how it looked from the sideline. It was very much a team performance with everyone playing their part.
The Merrion team on the day was: Seb Dijkstra [C], Oliver Molins [Wk], William Cleere, Alex Casey, Tom Squires, Toby Houchin, Sam McKee, Jan Dijkstra, Sam Casey, Kien Fredericks, Ben Gogan, and Jack Casey [12th]